Construction fatality statistics have remained broadly unchanged in the past year, latest data from the Health & Safety Executive reveals.

In the year to 31 March 2012 there were 49 fatal injuries to construction workers were recorded, at a rate of 2.3 deaths per 100,000 workers. The rate was identical to 2010/11, although one more fatality was recorded.In 2011 the number of people working in construction fell by 71,000.

Steve Murphy, general secretary of construction union Ucatt, said: “No one should consider the latest construction fatality figures to be good news in anyway. Deaths remain far too high, especially given the declining number of people working in the industry. Each and every death results in a family being left devastated when a loved one is killed.”

Self-employed workers remain at greater risk, statistically, than those who are directly employed. The rate of fatal injuries for directly employed construction workers in 2011/12 was 2 per 100,000 compared to a rate of 2.8 per 100,000 for self-employed construction workers.

Some other industries fared even worse than construction. Agriculture’s fatal accident rate deteriorated from 8.7 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2010/11 to 9.7 last year.